ieve the
wounded from their sufferings. Every one felt also much for poor
Monsieur Clenard, for a braver man never commanded a ship or fought her
longer, till not a prospect of escape remained for him. Strange as it
may appear, we had only one man wounded, while the Bienfaisant had only
two killed and two wounded. This extraordinary difference in the
Frenchman's loss and ours arose from two causes. He wished to escape,
and fired high to try and destroy our spars and rigging; and also his
crew, collected chiefly from the merchant service, and from boatmen and
fishermen who had never till lately handled a gun, and having also a
considerable proportion of landsmen among them, were in no way a match
for our well-trained and hardy seamen. The ship was handled as well as
she could be, while nothing could exceed the gallantry of her officers;
her crew also fought with the greatest bravery, as indeed Frenchmen
generally will fight, though perhaps not with the same bull-dog
determination as the English. We agreed that when the French had had
more practice, and had learned a few lessons from us, they would prove
much tougher customers than they had hitherto been.

There was great cheering and congratulation on board the ships of the
convoy as they came up, and in a short time the rest of them joined us
with the Licorne and Hussar. In the interval the crew of the Compte
D'Artois were transferred to the Bienfaisant, and she and her prize
stood away for Crookhaven in Ireland. We, meantime, with the other two
ships and the convoy, made sail for the westward. We had generally on
the passage moderate gales and fine pleasant weather.

On the 12th a strange sail was seen to leeward, beating up towards us.
She was after a time made out to be a ship of some size, probably
watching her opportunity to pick off any stragglers in the fleet. To
prevent this Captain Symonds ordered the Hussar to chase her away, we
making as if we were about to follow. Seeing this, the stranger put up
her helm and ran off before the wind, while the Hussar crowded all sail
in chase. We watched her with no little interest, for the stranger was
evidently a big ship, and, if the Hussar brought her to action, would
very likely prove a powerful antagonist--not that odds, however great,
were much thought of in those days, and I will take upon myself to say
that there was scarcely an officer in the service in command of a
fifty-gun frigate who would not have